Lubbock Fire Marshal investigates string of suspicious fires

The Lubbock Fire Marshal is investigating a Wednesday morning fire that may be just one of several fires intentionally set in recent days.

Firefighters were called to the 1300 block of 23rd Street for a structure fire early Wednesday. Within minutes, firefighters called for fire marshals to come investigate the scene.

Wednesday's fire is just the most recent in a series of small fires. There were two fires just blocks apart last Friday near the South Overton area. There was another near 25th Street and Avenue P on Sunday morning. Investigators are looking at the possibility of arson.

"There are several areas of town, so our belief is they are not related,' said Deputy Fire Marshal Robert Loveless . "We may have several actors out there, and we are following up on several cases right now."

Loveless says the incidents could be related to school being out or the extremely dry conditions.

Virginia Light saw the vacant house next to hers on fire early Wednesday morning. She was already worried because of how close it was to her home, but concerns grew when she heard officials thought it may have been set intentionally.

"That really is scary because now you're afraid to even leave your house alone," she continued. "I would not like to come home one day and find my house gone."

The fire marshal's office says they don't believe there's a pattern, but they haven't ruled out the possibility of the fires being related. "There's a likelihood that several are related, but we know we have several clusters around town," Loveless said.

According to Loveless, one possibility is that it could be kids out of school. Neighbors of Wednesday's fire say kids have caused trouble near the house in the past. "There were kids in there," Light said. "That's why they boarded it up because they were breaking windows and everything."

Several other neighbors didn't want to go on camera, but said they'll be paying extra attention as fire marshals continue their investigation.